Warriors get no breaks at start

Brad Weinstein, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, October 30, 2002

The Warriors' schedule starts to unfold tonight. It won't be in the form of a red carpet.

No beginner's luck for the Warriors, who open the regular season with a 12- game stretch that coach Eric Musselman said "would be difficult for the Lakers, " let alone a team with three starters in their second seasons, injuries to two rotation players and uncertainty over when its top rebounder will return.

"They definitely didn't do us any favors," forward Antawn Jamison said of the schedule makers. "But, hey, you have to play everybody at some point, right? It's a great challenge for us right off the bat to see where we are at as a team and what kind of progress we made in the preseason."

The Warriors will try to earn their spurs beginning with a game against visiting San Antonio, the defending Midwest Division champions. San Antonio has won 18 of the past 19 meetings, but who hasn't among the Warriors' first few opponents?

Golden State on Friday plays host to Seattle, which has taken 26 of the past 28 matchups. Then the Warriors go on the road, where recent results against the Jazz (28 losses in 30 games), the Mavericks (13 losses in a row), the Spurs and the Hornets (seven losses in eight games) are nothing to write home about. The six-game trip continues in Houston and finishes in Memphis.

Then comes Sacramento at the Arena, a visit to the Lakers, who could have center Shaquille O'Neal back from toe surgery, and home games with Orlando and the Clippers.

Talk about a dirty dozen: Nine are against teams that made the playoffs last season, seven are on the road and there are three sets of back-to-back games. The Warriors lost 92-74 at Sacramento and 87-79 at Phoenix -- a game they trailed by 22 at halftime -- in the second half of back-to-backs during the preseason, their two worst exhibition performances.

"The key for us is our mental approach when things are going bad," Musselman said. "In the preseason, when we weren't scoring points, our defense tended to slack off. During stretches of games when things aren't going well, we have to dig in, grit our teeth and play a little harder.

"That's the same thing when you start looking at the schedule. When you lose a game or two in a row, that's not the time to hang your head. You have to keep coming back and going to work and bringing more intensity to the job."

Former Rockets shooting guard Oscar Torres was on the job Tuesday, signed to fill out a 12-man active roster missing small forward Chris Mills (on injured list with left Achilles tendinitis) and power forward Danny Fortson, whose father died Sunday. The Warriors said they do not know when Fortson, the NBA's fourth-leading rebounder last season, will rejoin the team.

Guard Jiri Welsch, who sustained a cut on his left hand Friday in Phoenix that required four stitches to close, was upgraded to probable for tonight. Welsch, the primary backup at shooting guard, might have to play with the hand wrapped.

"I asked him how he was feeling. He started to explain it and I said, 'Here's the answer: You're feeling great,' " Musselman said.